Isir's Smart ArM Team Takes on Cybathlon 2020
The Smart ArM (SAM) team from Sorbonne University's Institute of Intelligent Systems and Robotics (Isir) is set to participate in Cybathlon 2020- Global Edition, which will take place on November 13th and 14th. The sports competition is designed for people with disabilities who use assistive technology.
Cybathlon is a unique international competition in which athletes with a disability compete in events using bionic assistive technologies. During each event, they're asked to perform everyday tasks using the latest in assistive technology systems such as robotic prostheses, motorized exoskeletons or even brain-machine interfaces.
This year, each team will compete in their event from their local base and film it. The competition at large will be broadcast from Zurïch on a live-streaming platform.
SAM: The only French team in the 'race with a prosthetic arm' category.
The Smart ArM team is led by Nathanaël Jarrassé, a CNRS researcher in the AGATHE team at Isir and a specialist in robotics for rehabilitation and assistance. The team is composed of approximately fifteen researchers, engineers and doctoral candidates from the fields of robotics and neurosciences. Scientists are supported by a group of medical doctors from the equipment department of the regional rehabilitation institute (IRR) of Nancy (Ugecam Nord-Est) and a 'pilot,' who will represent the team at Cybathlon using the prototype prosthesis they developed.
Membres de l’équipe Smart ArM. De gauche à droite : F. Vérité, J. Mago, A. Poignant, C. Drouo, C. Huchet, C. Marchand, N. Jarrassé, P. Gauthier, F. Richer, G. Le Buan-Mania.
Christophe Huchet is the Smart ArM team's pilot. Born with agenesis at his right forearm, the high-level sportsman is a multiple-times champion in sports for disabled people and in swimming. Also a restaurant developer for 20 years, he is now a certified coach and accompanies managers of small and medium-sized companies.
The Smart ArM team is the only French team to take part in the 'Powered ArM Prosthesis Race' (a race for amputees with prostheses) and one of the only teams whose pilot was born without a forearm. The team will showcase a highly advanced arm prosthesis prototype (elbow, wrist and hand) in the competition. Isir researched intuitive and natural control for several years on the decoding of motor-control in humans. The result was this recently patented prosthesis.
Assistive robotic technology created by humans, for humans.
The objective of the Smart ArM team's participation in Cybathlon is threefold. It seeks to promote their technological innovations outside of the laboratory and to test and improve them in an intense and stimulating competitive context. The team also hopes to draw the attention of the general public to the particular disabilities of upper limb amputation and agenesis, and to the real possibilities (and limitations) of assistive robotic technologies. Finally, they wish to highlight the major role of humans in this 'man-machine' coupling, the success of which is too often attributed to technology alone.
Nathanaël Jarrassé, porteur du projet, et Christophe Huchet, pilote de l'équipe SAM
Go behind the scenes of the Smart ArM team and stay up to date on their latest news on Twitter (@TeamSAM2020) and Instagram (@ team_smart_arm).
*The Institute for Intelligent Systems and Robotics (Isir) is a joint research unit (UMR7222) under the supervision of Sorbonne University, CNRS and Inserm (ERL-U1150). This multidisciplinary research laboratory brings together specialists from different disciplines in engineering and information sciences as well as life sciences.
